Everyone is the main character in their own story at Maria & Pepe

How did you meet?

Joost: "It was during the pandemic, when everything was shut down. My world had shrunk to my home and the nearby Prinsemolen Park, where I walked and exercised every morning. There I spotted Maria a few times, walking a Border Collie, and I immediately liked her. After a few days I ventured a cautious nod, to let her know I'd noticed her."

Maria: "At the time, I was doing my master's in Sociology at Erasmus and I'd found a room with a family who had a dog. The deal was that I could live there for free in exchange for walking the dog three times a day. I'd already seen Joost in the park a couple of times, and one day, while he was doing sit-ups, my dog dropped his ball at his feet. Joost said something to me in Dutch. I said: I don't speak Dutch, I'm from Mexico."

Joost: "We got talking and started seeing each other regularly in the park, secretly synchronising our schedules, of course. Two months later, I'd built up enough courage to ask her to the beach. She didn't really respond at first. But ten minutes later she asked me: So, how are you actually getting to the beach?"

Maria: "He said: on my motorbike. I said: Let's go!"

Joost: "After that day, we saw each other more and more. First as friends, later as a couple. And now we've been together for nearly six years. We got married in January in Mexico, and in August we'll also get married here in the Netherlands."

You've founded a non-profit together: Maria & Pepe. How did that come about?

Maria: "We were always looking for somewhere to eat together in Rotterdam, but hadn't found quite the right place: a restaurant where everything is plant-based, so you don't have to keep checking whether something contains animal products. We also had a list of things we wanted to do together. Salsa lessons, litter picking, outdoor activities. At some point, we both had the same idea: what if we started a vegan Mexican restaurant? Joost loves cooking and I missed Mexican food terribly, so it seemed a natural fit. We didn't really have a clue about the business side and assumed we wouldn't make any profit and would work with volunteers. We just wanted a place where people could meet each other."

Joost: "I had some restaurant experience, but only as a waiter and in bars. Together with a friend of ours who has written a plant-based cookbook, we put the menu together. And many other people helped us too, with the financial side, for instance. Even so, I was incredibly nervous on opening day. I'd have quite happily locked myself in the toilet. But then the first order came in, and then another, and another. And I thought: you know what, I can actually do this, and I enjoy it. That first edition went so well that we were able to donate €5,000 to a Mexican organisation that raises awareness of artisans and farmers through documentaries. Since then, Maria & Pepe has grown into an official foundation with a permanent core team, a fair distribution model for staff, and an ever-growing pool of volunteers."

What impact are you hoping to make with the foundation?

Joost: "When I was still studying Economics and Marketing, I'd approach any project in terms of mission statements and revenue targets. Success had to be quantifiable. That ultimately didn't feel meaningful enough to me. With Maria & Pepe, what matters most is that people can meet each other, feel at home, and leave with a good memory."

Maria: "We believe that peace on earth begins with getting to know one another better. That's why, alongside the food, we also host storytelling evenings (inspired by Amsterdam's storytelling house Mezrab) and shared-table dinners, where guests sit together at one long table. That often leads to surprising encounters: between local residents and people with a residence permit, for example, who join us through Stichting Mano."

Joost: "The wonderful thing is that on an evening like that, you suddenly see each other as human beings, rather than through the filters we normally place over the world. At Maria & Pepe I'm always very aware that I'm not the main character in life, but that everyone is the main character in their own story. We offer a space where people from completely different backgrounds can meet, without expectations, without judgement. Simply as human beings."

Maria: "I don't think Maria & Pepe will ever be just one thing. It's constantly changing. If I'm allowed to dream about what it might look like in five or ten years, I hope it's above all a feeling. A kind of Mexican magic you can experience here in the Netherlands, without being able to put your finger on exactly what it is."

What influence has your degree had on your later life?

Maria: "I chose Sociology because the modules were so surprisingly broad: one moment we'd be discussing how cities develop, the next the fascination with fame and Hollywood, and then sustainable consumption. That wide-ranging curiosity is exactly what I draw on now when developing the Maria & Pepe programme: always taking things a step further, and looking at them from different angles. And being willing to adjust course when something doesn't feel right."

Joost: "For me, philosophy was never a career choice in the traditional sense. People always asked what I wanted to 'become' with it, and I never really had an answer. But it changed me, from the inside out. After my studies, I had a much clearer sense of what mattered to me. In particular, a module on eco-philosophy, which was new at the time, shaped my dissertation focus: why is it that we know full well we're heading down a dead-end road, and yet we don't change our behaviour? I still ask myself that question with everything we do at Maria & Pepe: is this good for the world, does it harm anyone, and do I genuinely believe in this?"

Maria: "It's perhaps less the content of a degree that shapes the rest of your life, and more what it does to your curiosity and your way of seeing things."

What are your plans for the future?

Joost: "We sometimes dream of growing bigger. Perhaps even organising an edition in Mexico in winter. But we don't want the project to capsize under pressure or profit targets, because that could be precisely what destroys it."

Maria: "What I would love is a permanent physical space, perhaps shared with others who work from a similar mindset and who could contribute something to the concept. And involving more people: performers, writers, poets, musicians. This summer, for the first time, we're running a workshop in which we analyse Mexican love songs and invite people to write their own couplets about love in their own lives, with live musical accompaniment."

Joost: "We also have various other ideas in the pipeline, such as salsa workshops for young people exploring intimacy and boundaries, and Maria wants to start a book club centred on Latin American literature."

Maria: "The wonderful — and sometimes tricky — thing is that we can't fit our project into a single box. It evolves alongside what we care about."

Come and join us!

Joost: "Want to really understand what we do? Come and eat with us. Bring someone you'd like to get to know better. Pull up a chair at a community dinner, try the beginners' salsa class, or experience a storytelling evening."

Maria: "There's something for everyone to discover. We guarantee a good time!"